It’s that time of the year again. My new generation of Knipowitschia cf. thessala (offspring from fish I caught in the Pinios delta, northern Greece in 2008) just spawned for their first time. You have to know that Knipowitschia is a genus of small European freshwater gobies (closely related to the more common Pomatoschistus) whose members hardly live longer than a year; females usually lay 3 or 4 batches of eggs in spring and then die, males following after having guarded their last brood or sometimes surviving until next year’s spring. So this indeed is a special happening. Enjoy the photos!

The male chose an artificial cave (okay, it's a piece of Gardena garden hose) as a spawning place......defends its new territory against competitors and tries to attract the ladies by showing its brightest colours and spreading the fins.Gotcha. Obviously, his efforts succeeded. If you look closely, you can already spot the eggs hanging from the ceiling.Another blurry shot of a male in its breeding dress.